MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.: President Donald Trump vowed Monday to allow only people who “want to love our country” into the United States, defending his immigration and refugee restrictions as he made his first visit to the headquarters for U.S. Central Command.
Trump reaffirmed his support for NATO before military leaders and troops and laced his speech with references to homeland security amid a court battle over his travel ban on people from seven majority-Muslim countries. He did not directly mention the case.
“We need strong programs” so that “people that love us and want to love our country and will end up loving our country are allowed in” and those who “want to destroy us and destroy our country” are kept out, Trump said.
“Freedom, security and justice will prevail,” Trump added. “We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism and we will not allow it to take root in our country. We’re not going to allow it.”
Trump touched upon various alliances in his remarks, noting, “we strongly support NATO.”
He spoke Sunday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. A White House statement said the two “discussed how to encourage all NATO allies to meet their defense spending commitments,” and also talked about the crisis in Ukraine and security challenges facing NATO countries.
Trump once dismissed the trans-Atlantic military alliance as “obsolete,” and said he would decide whether to protect NATO countries against Russian aggression based on whether those countries “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”
Speaking as commander in chief, Trump repeated his promises to defeat “radical Islamic terrorists” but provided no specifics on any policy changes he wants in the fight against the Islamic State. He complained about media coverage of terrorist attacks, suggesting there were many attacks unreported intentionally by the media.
In response to requests for evidence to support that claim, the White House released a list of 78 attacks it described as “executed or inspired by” the IS since September 2014.
The list included incidents like a truck massacre in Nice, France, that killed dozens and received widespread attention, as well as less high-profile incidents in which nobody was killed.
The AP could not verify that each of the incidents had connections to the Islamic State group.
Earlier, Trump sat down for lunch with a room full of troops in fatigues from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, as well as senior members of his White House staff.
Trump made small talk with some of the soldiers, discussing everything from football to military careers.
“Gonna make it a career?” Trump asked one person.
“C’mon, you have to stay,” he urged another.
Trump also hailed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, saying he “cemented his place” in football history after his fifth Super Bowl win Sunday.
Trump stopped at the base on the way back to Washington after his first weekend away from the White House. He spent the weekend at his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., with first lady Melania Trump, who had not appeared in public since shortly after her husband took office.
At MacDill, the president was briefed by U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command leaders. A number of his advisers also attended.